Prom
by RedMacaque
Summary: For most people, highschool prom was one of two things. It was either the highlight of your year, or just another silly event that you avoided or wondered why you bothered attending in the first place.


For most people, highschool prom was one of two things. It was either the highlight of your year, or just another silly event that you avoided or wondered why you bothered attending in the first place.

For Eric Cartman, it was the latter. He was pushed to come to the prom just because, as his friends assured him, "It'd be _fun_, and you'd be a loser if you stayed home." His definition of _fun_ didn't involve wasting his entire night at a stupid school dance with annoying music and cheap snacks. But his mom desperately insisted that he attend; she even bought him a suit just so he'd get out of the house for a few hours. Probably so that she could smoke crack or screw a stranger while he was gone.

So, maybe he was a little bitter because even after deciding not to come, he was forced to go, and now he was here just sitting all by himself under flashing strobe lights. He felt like a complete dumbass, though it honestly didn't surprise him he was alone. The girls completely hated him. Could he really expect any of them to want to dance? There were a few melvins sitting nearby too - the rejects that nobody wanted to dance with. After taking one look at them, he wasn't very surprised why.

He swirled the soda in his cup around and watched as it created a small whirlpool, leaning back in his chair. He didn't like dancing much anyway. Sure, he wasn't this shy a few years back, but somehow after being called fat so many times, the confidence just kind of melted away. Not like his body fat. He never really learned how to treat girls nicely either; not that he wanted to. Most of them actually seemed to prefer assholes over the nice guys, but Cartman was probably too much of an asshole for anyone to handle. His dating life so far had only consisted of two girls; both of which lasted less than a week. He sighed irritably as he remembered them. The first girl had only dated him on a dare. The other girl was a mentally unstable psycho bitch, and eventually tried to kill him. It turns out he didn't have much luck with the ladies.

Surprisingly enough, both Stan and Kyle had come to the dance with girls. That didn't matter though - they were still fags in his mind, no matter what they did. Even Kenny was over near the punch table, inconspicuously trying to slip something into a girl's drink. He guessed it was alcohol or some other date-rape substance. Perhaps the funniest of them all, however, was Butters; all the girls loved him, despite how flamboyantly gay he acted. Or maybe that was why they liked him in the first place. Cartman couldn't understand the minds of females. Butters danced around crazily along with three obnoxious girls while a Britney Spears song played. Other kids laughed at him, and not in a good way. But he didn't seem to care or notice. He was too busy having fun with his bitch squad.

Cartman had to admire Butters, for he had no shame. Coming out..that was a tough thing to do. It took guts, something he really didn't have. Especially in a small town where gay was still used as an everyday insult. Even Cartman was guilty of it. Some people claimed to be "tolerant", but homosexuality was still looked upon with oddity.

Cartman figured that by the time he finally accepted himself, let alone admitted he was "gay", he'd be so old and ugly that nobody would want him anyway. In all honesty, that didn't really bother him. He much preferred to be alone; he was selfish. He didn't like having to put effort into pleasing other people. Besides, it felt much better to be "straight." It meant reassurance, knowing that he wasn't going to be labeled a freak for something else he couldn't change. The fat jokes were bad enough! For this reason, he decided that he'd never admit he was gay. He would do anything necessary to keep anyone from outing him, too. But never having an actual relationship with a girl probably didn't help his image. Nor did dressing up as a drag queen on Saturday nights and dancing in front of a mirror in his bedroom. Thankfully, not everyone knew about that part.

* * *

He saw Kenny and Stan approaching him after catching sight of him in the corner, both of them laughing as they pointed in his direction. _Great_, he thought. They just had to come and rub it in, didn't they? He couldn't just get through one stupid night without anyone bothering him.

"Dude, what are you doing sitting over here? We thought you weren't coming." Stan commented, raising an eyebrow as he stood there in his suit, looking all handsome and..oh fuck, he didn't just think that. Cartman looked down at his drink. He held the most uncaring, apathetic expression on his face. "Depressed?" Stan questioned.

"Tell me about it. My mom made me come here." Cartman growled. Kenny started to laugh hysterically again at his premise. That half-drunken bastard was just full of shits and giggles tonight, wasn't he? Cartman wanted so badly to wipe the fucking smirk off his face. He gave Kenny a glare, and the laughter died down a bit.

"Well you can't just sit on the side all night like a loser. Go find a girl to dance with!" Stan demanded, acting as though it were the simplest thing to do. He turned to look around the room; there were plenty of girls without dates, so why didn't Cartman just go up to one of them?

"Oh, so first you said I'd be a loser if I stayed home, and now I show up and you _still _call me a loser. Thanks a lot, douchebag." he remarked. "But in case you haven't noticed, all the girls in our school hate me. So unless it's some foreign exchange bitch that has never seen me before, I don't plan on risking getting my balls kicked, thank you very much." Cartman sat there with his arms crossed. He just wanted his asshole friends to finally stop pestering him.

Stan gave him an apathetic stare. His eyes were glazed over, probably from drinking before he even got here. "Whatever, retard. You don't have to be such an asshat about it, I was only trying to help." he groaned and then walked away dizzily, joining another group of people. Yep, he was definitely drunk. _Douchebag_, Cartman thought. Who did he think he was calling him a loser like that? And what the hell was an "asshat", anyway? He chuckled a bit to himself as he wondered why anyone would wear a hat on their ass. Stan had the dumbest vocabulary of insults.

Kenny was still standing nearby, watching as Stan left. He patted Cartman on the back sympathetically. "Don't worry Cartman. I'm sure you'll score some day." he said, unable to control the grin on his face. "With a male prostitute." Kenny then chuckled loudly, making people turn and stare. The alcohol had obviously gone to his head, making everything funny to him.

Cartman's careless expression turned into anger. "God dammit Kenneh! You're not fucking funny, you drunk ass." he growled. "Besides, you _are_ a male prostitute." Kenny returned a toothy smile, and Cartman jumped out of his seat to try and punch him. But Kenny was too quick. The boy in the cheap blue tuxedo backed off before he could even swing a hit, only to turn back around and shout, "Maybe you'll find a cheap one!" with a big smile on his face. Cartman gave him the middle finger, but he'd already made his way towards a group of girls and started talking to them. Stupid prick.

* * *

The rest of the night was spent playing a hangman game on his cellphone by himself. Cartman imagined Kenny as the hangman. He went through cup after cup of cheap soda, the sugar buzz keeping him content as he had to listen to the dorks nearby talk about space and astronomy or some shit. He vaguely tuned in and out of their conversations. It was obvious that they'd also made the unfortunate mistake of showing up to prom; he wondered why they even came in the first place. Maybe they had crackwhore moms too? Nah..that was too convenient of an excuse. They probably were betting on getting action, but apparently they had heinously misjudged their awkward lack of appeal.

He would've continued to sit there pondering all of life's mysteries for the rest of the night, but the boredom was starting to kill him now. Not only that, but if he had to hear another god damn song by Pitbull, he might kill himself. Cartman left the circle of nerds and made his way towards the cafeteria doors. That was where their school's crappy senior prom was held. In a fucking school cafeteria. He threw his empty cup in the trash, then tore off his jacket and crumpled it up before dropping it in the bin as well. He'd never wear it again anyway. The worst part of this night was that he still had another hour or so to go; he couldn't leave early because his mom dropped him off there. He knew that calling her would be useless, since she was probably fucking some random guy right about now and probably wouldn't bother to answer the phone.

He walked outside to get some fresh air, but immediately realized that the chilling cold breeze wasn't as refreshing as he thought it would be. Annoyed, he trudged back inside and retreated to the hallway, taking a seat on the hard tile floor. He pulled out his phone and leaned against the wall.

At least his phone had music, which he was very thankful for. Now he wouldn't have to listen to that crappy dance shit that they'd been playing for the past hour. It was simply a replay of the same radio hits that had been overplayed on the air for the past few months. He pulled a pair of buds out of his pocket and stuck them in his ear, flipping through his list of songs. He leaned against the hard wall and remained there, drowning out the sound of the cafeteria noise.

* * *

He listened to his music for a good twenty minutes before being startled by the cafeteria doors swinging open. A bunch of giggling girls came out. For a moment, he thought the dance might be finally over and they were leaving, but the clock in the hall reminded him that it was only nearing 9:00. The prom didn't end until 10:30.

He saw Butters come out with the girls, or rather, being dragged out by the arm. Butters smiled innocently as they laughed insanely and tugged him into the hallway. Cartman pulled the buds out of his ear as he watched. "W-What's this all about? Why'd you drag me out 'ere?" the blonde asked.

"Because we're trying to persuade you!" one of the girls explained, as the rest giddily giggled. She took one step towards him and pinned him against the wall. Butters gulped. "Per-persuade me?"

"Yes, all you need is a little persuasion." the girl said before licking his cheek. Butters looked scared shitless as held up his hand to wipe the lick off his cheek.

"Mindy!" the fourth girl shouted, causing the girl who licked his cheek to look up. "What?"

"Let me join too!" and before he knew it, Butters was practically being molested - though any other boy in his right mind would have considered it a fantasy come true - by his drunk girlfriends. Some of them messed with his hair, while another one tried to dance against him.

"You know you like it!" the girl said as she pretended to dry hump him in a joking manner. The horrified expression on his face made it clear that Butters wasn't enjoying any of it. He tried to slink out of proximity as the girls snorted in laughter, clapping their hands together in amusement. He straightened his tie and shook his head. "What did I do to deserve that?!"

The girl in the bright pink prom dress held her hands up in surrender. "I guess he is really gay." She shot him a sympathetic look. "Sorry Butters! We were just playing!"

Butters wearily took a step backwards - as Cartman tried to hold in his laughter - away from his girlfriends. A girl in a sparkly black dress casually shrugged and said, "Well, I guess we can confirm it now."

The girl in purple nodded as she headed back through the swinging doors. The other two followed. When Butters didn't follow, the one in hot pink turned around. "Come on Butters, you can come back, we won't bite!" she winked. The other girls laughed before retreating back to the dance floor.

Butters scrunched his face as he replied, "N-no thanks. I've gotta use the bathroom." He then started speed walking down the hall.

He wasn't really looking for the bathroom, but an escape route. In his hurry, he ran past Cartman without noticing and went out the large doors at the end of the hall. He got outside, and immediately felt the cold air hit his face, stinging his nose and cheeks. He stood under the alcove for a minute or two before deciding it was too cold, and came back inside.

There, he saw Cartman sitting on the floor listening to his music player. He waved as Cartman looked up, then sat down next to him. Cartman pulled his buds out of his ear, a knowing grin on his face. "Hiya Eric, mind if I join?"

"Why aren't you with your drunken whore friends? Afraid of being molested by them again?" Cartman broke out into hysterical laughter as he recalled the bizarre scene he encountered minutes ago.

Butters looked horrified. "Uhh, you saw that?"

Cartman couldn't contain his laughter. "I was sitting here the whole time. I guess nobody noticed me."

Butters looked embarrassed and frustrated as he patted down the signature poof of hair on his head. It had been ruffled out of shape by the attack. "Well why the hell didn't ya help me or something? Some buddy you are!"

"Help save you from hot chicks? You're crazy, Butters. Absolutely crazy." Cartman grinned.

Butters sighed and closed his eyes. He was getting tired. Cartman just sat there grinning. He knew that mischievous smile all too well.

"Most guys would be jealous of you. Which one of them do you think is the hottest? Have you ever personally seen any of their tits?" Cartman continued to tease, a cocky grin on his face. For some reason, poking fun at Butters always helped improve his mood and get him through boredom.

Butters, rather than giving in to Cartman's antics and showing his annoyance, simply chuckled. He shook his head. "No, I haven't seen their boobs! But Eric, all titties look the same to me. You might as well look at cow udders if you wanna see somethin' different."

Cartman snorted, and the soda he'd been drinking all night almost came out of his nose. "Woah Butters, I didn't know you had a cow fetish..hmmm..maybe _you_ were behind the mysterious cow disappearances lately." He raised an eyebrow in shock.

Butters rolled his eyes and laid his head against the wall. He was ready to go home already. A warm bed seemed nice right now.

"So if all tits look the same, what about dicks and balls? Aren't they essentially all the same too?" Cartman asked in a professional tone, pressing his buttons further. He held a mockingly inquisitive look on his face.

Butters' mouth dropped in shock, unable to formulate a witty answer. "Umm.."

"Look I'm just kidding..but for seriously, why do you like guys and not girls?" Cartman asked, despite knowing some of the answers within himself.

Butters started to feel uncomfortable, as he wasn't sure how to answer that. He really didn't know why, exactly. It just was how it was. He simply shrugged. "I dunno Eric, I ain't a psychologist."

Cartman rubbed his chin in thought. Was it possible that Butters was less aware of himself than he thought? Despite acting so obviously gay? He decided to probe further. "Well, what kind of guys _are_ you attracted to, then?"

Butters raised an eyebrow, wondering how and why this conversation had turned into a psychoanalysis of his own sexuality. "Sweet biscuits, why do you need to know all this stuff?" he blurted out, more than a little defensively.

Cartman held his hands up in surrender. The evil, childish side of him wanted to find out more, in hopes of gaining material that he could later use against Butters, but the rarer and more mature side of him told him to let it go. If Butters didn't like talking about his personal life, then he couldn't really blame him. Especially given their history and past relations. He shrugged and looked at the clock. It was only 9:15, god dammit. There was still over an hour left. "Sorry Butters, was just curious. Don't get sand in your vagina."

Butters sighed irritably. He knew that Cartman only wanted to know these things so that he could later use them to embarrass him. And he knew better than to ever share any personal information with him.

But Cartman was still curious. He couldn't help but wonder. "So, anyway..what about Stan?"

"What about him?" Butters replied. "Stan isn't gay, even though you call him a fag all the time.."

Cartman rolled his eyes. "Yeah whatever, but do you find him attractive? Most of the girls do."

Butters thought for a moment. He was annoyed that he was being dragged into this conversation against his will. Was Cartman going to ask him his opinion on every boy until he finally found something he could use to embarrass him with? Well, two could play at this game, then. He made a disgusted face. "He usually looks drunk or hung over. Not attractive."

Cartman nodded. "Clyde?"

"His teeth are pretty fucked up." Butters replied, as if on cue.

"What about, uh..Kenny?" Cartman asked, though he hoped that Butters wouldn't find that annoying asshole attractive. It was horrible enough that some girls liked him.

Butters simply shook his head, much to Cartman's relief. "He smells bad. And you better not go telling them I said these things!"

Cartman grinned, but he knew he wasn't going to bother telling anyone. It wouldn't make a difference anyway, being it only Butters' opinion. "Don't worry, I won't. What about uh..oh Jesus, do NOT tell me you find the stupid Jew attractive, or you're taking me to the emergency room after I have a heart attack."

Butters laughed. He thought about using this opportunity to piss off Cartman. But he wasn't entirely sure that Cartman was joking. And he really didn't feel like spending the rest of tonight in the ER, if that were the case. "Well..don't tell Kyle I said it, but no, he's _kinda_ ugly." he whispered dramatically. But he was lying, for Cartman's sake. Kyle wasn't _really_ ugly, though not his cup of tea either.

Cartman smiled a bright smile at that response. "Ahahah! I knew it! Not even you could find that asshole attractive. Hahahah!" he snorted. "You know, I think the only reason he has a date tonight is because his butt buddy Stan begged some girl to go with him. How pathetic!"

Butters simply nodded, but then it occurred to him that Cartman did not have a date. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time Cartman had anybody's interest. "So, Eric..what's your excuse then?"

It took Cartman awhile to understand what Butters was talking about, and then he was angry that Butters would ask such a question. He'd had enough of his earlier encounters with Stan, Kyle and Kenny pestering him about not having a date. "Well asshole, all of the girls in this school are lame, and won't bother with me..do I really need an excuse for their bitchiness?"

Butters chuckled slightly, before coming up with an idea. He looked up at the clock. 9:25 PM. "Eric, I'll be right back." Then he ran off down the hall, and entered the cafeteria.

Cartman thought nothing of it and put his earbuds back in his ear. He wasn't sure how much longer of this boring night he could take. It was bad enough that he had already spent the entire day at school! He really just wanted to go home and play some video games.

* * *

About ten minutes later, Butters returned, smiling as he walked back down the hall. He stopped in front of Cartman, sitting on the cold tile floor, and tried to pull him up by the arm.

Cartman resisted, angrily shrugging his arm out of Butters' grip. "The fuck?"

"Eric, stop whining and come with me. I found a girl for you to dance with!" Butters grinned brightly.

Cartman's eyes widened and he immediately shook his head. "No, no, no. I'm not dancing with any of those sluts." Although partially true, he did think most girls were sluts, he was mostly afraid of dancing for one major reason: he didn't know how to dance.

Butters dramatically rolled his eyes. "Come on Eric, are you afraid or something? You won't get cooties." He stuck his tongue out playfully. Cartman give him a death glare.

"Just come, I already asked the girl and she said yes!" Butters pleaded.

Cartman sighed and felt a pit forming in his stomach. This was, no doubt, going to become an embarrassing memory in his life. And the worst part is that it hadn't even begun yet. He could just see himself stepping on the girl's toes or something, and getting slapped in the face. Then, those assholes would never let him live it down. He hated his fucking friends, sometimes.

But he supposed there was no escaping it now. He had to defend his masculinity, no matter what it took. So with a frustrated groan, he got up, put his phone and buds in his pocket and followed Butters down the hallway. Butters looked like a giddy and excited schoolgirl, smiling from ear to ear. Fucking asshole.

As they opened the cafeteria doors, Cartman could see that the atmosphere had changed and now people were slow dancing to even more shitty music. He saw a green hat to the left and recognized Kyle dancing with some chick. He wanted to barf, or run away. Something, anything but be here in this room right now. When Butters motioned for Cartman to follow him back towards a group of the same girls that had previously tried to molest him, he panicked. The girls were giggling as he came over, except for one of them, who wore a purple dress and had a dreaded, frightful expression on her face. Cartman assumed that she was the girl he would be dancing with. Well, at least they shared one thing in common. He apparently wasn't looking forward to dancing any more than she was.

Lo and behold, the girl in the purple dress stood up and nodded at him. Butters smiled and introduced Cartman to the girl. "Eric, this is Amanda. Amanda, this is Eric. Well, have fun!" And with that, Butters left him all alone. He sat down in a chair against the wall, next to his other girlfriends. Each of them watched Cartman like a group of hawks.

Cartman reluctantly took Amanda's hand and lead her into the dance floor. He wasn't sure what to do next, so he just kind of grabbed her waist like he saw other guys doing. This girl was really big, so there was a lot of waist to grab. He couldn't really judge though, being a fatass himself.

Amanda rested her hands on his shoulders and began to guide them into dance, automatically sensing that he hadn't much experience. They twirled around a couple of times, and then Cartman saw Kenny. Kenny looked shocked and started laughing. Everything was fucking funny to Kenny tonight, wasn't it? Cartman gave him the middle finger for the second time this night. Kenny wiped his eyes dramatically, pretending to cry. At this point, Cartman was pissed, so he tried to guide Amanda and himself away from the area where Kenny was dancing with some other bitch. He caught sight of Butters sitting on the sides, smiling and throwing him a thumbs up. At that moment, he had never felt more pathetic. The distraction nearly caused him to trip over Amanda's feet, but he caught himself just in time. He looked down at his feet awkwardly, making sure he didn't step on any toes. Amanda giggled and whispered, "Not too bad for first time dancing!"

Cartman tried not to express his embarrassment at that statement. "This isn't my first time dancing, I just..I'm just kind of clumsy from all the soda. Yeah." _Whew, smooth one,_ he told himself. Amanda laughed awkwardly at his response. He tried to look down at his feet movements again, but it was rather difficult, considering the large boobs blocking his view. It didn't help that the girl was wearing a low cut dress. He couldn't help but stare at their sheer size. He wondered if it was painful to run with those things. This made him very glad he wasn't a chick. Before he could look away though, Amanda had already realized where his gaze was focused. She looked upset, and pushed away from him. He looked back up at her, and pleaded with her through guilty eyes. "I'm sorry! uh, I was only trying to look down at my feet and well.."

He quickly tried to regain his cool, and instead decided to make a joke out of the situation. "So..is it hard to run with those things? How do you manage to sleep at night with those jugs?" he chuckled.

She just shook her head, evidently embarrassed. Before he could do anything about it, she had ran away.

Ouch. What a fucking bitch! Cartman angrily stormed away, all the way to the opposite side of the room. He instinctively went to the snack table and grabbed some chips, chomping on them with fury.

While chewing on some nachos and simultaneously fuming with anger, his gaze directed back to where Butters and the girls were sitting. The girl in purple had already returned to her seat and was saying something to the rest of them. He saw them all laughing. Even Butters was laughing hysterically. Most likely, they were laughing at him. He felt so humiliated.

Then the girls were trying to push Butters out of his chair. He looked embarrassed as he stood up and walked away. Butters scanned the room in search for Cartman, and found him standing near the snack table. He waved awkwardly, and Cartman glared back. Then Cartman saw Butters coming towards him, still waving. God dammit.

"Hey! I'm sorry that didn't work out, by there's plenty of other girls still available." Butters smiled and winked. "Just go up to one of them and ask them to dance. It looks better than me havin' to ask them for you!"

Cartman shouldn't have thought this was such a big deal, since he was used to rejection, but he couldn't help his anger. He clenched his teeth and stormed across the dance floor, forcefully pushing his way out through the cafeteria doors. He ran down the hallway and then headed into the bathroom.

* * *

He just needed to be away from everyone. He'd had enough embarrassment and shame for tonight. He was so tired of everyone treating him like a loser. Even losers themselves, like _Butters_, felt sorry for him.

Then it all came crashing down on him. The fact that it wasn't really people like Butters, or Kenny, or even Kyle who were the losers. It was simply _him_. He knew he was more pathetic than anyone else, and that everyone hated him, probably justifiably so. He couldn't wait to get out of high school and start a new life. He needed to get away from all of these bad memories. He just wanted to find a way to forget it all.

Cartman ran the tap water in the bathroom sink and splashed it over his face, repeatedly in attempt to pull himself together. But no matter how hard he tried to avoid it, he couldn't stop the stinging tears from leaking out of his eyes. Before he knew it, he was crying like a five year old boy.

Someone had been listening from outside the door, and they quietly pried the door open. "Eric? Are you okay?" Butters whispered carefully, afraid of angering his sensitive friend.

Cartman rubbed his eyes quickly and responded, "I'm fine Butters, just go away."

Butters looked genuinely worried for his friend, afraid that he had caused this. "You don't look okay. You look really upset, is it my fault?" He had seen Cartman cry before, but this time he was sobbing intensely, as though he had been holding something in for a long time. When Cartman didn't respond, Butters simply walked up to the sink and hugged him. To his surprise, Cartman didn't try to push him away or yell at him. He only continued sobbing in hitched breaths. He must have been very upset.

"Look, whatever is bothering you, it's probably not so bad. Was it that girl? I'm sorry Eric, she was a bitch, but don't let it get to you! There's plenty of others out there, if you give them a chance." Butters tried to console him, but the sobs just kept coming.

"What is wrong? I can't help you if you don't tell me.." Butters looked and sounded confused, and worried. Only half an hour ago, Cartman was teasing and joking with him, and now he was just a sad blubbering mess. He knew that Cartman was an emotional rollercoaster, but what lay below the surface of that unstable mind was something he did not know.

Cartman was angry at himself for allowing anyone to witness his weak side. But all of the bad memories and feelings had flooded his mind at once, and he simply could not control it. It was like a flood gate had been broken and all of his insecurities were gushing out. He needed to make up an excuse, but he couldn't think clearly enough to come up with anything clever. All that he could think was that he was a worthless loser. "I'm a loser.." he whispered in one ragged breath.

Butters stayed next to him, rubbing his back in circles. "You're not a loser, Eric..you're one of the coolest people I know!" he said confidently.

Cartman just looked up at him with watery eyes, a doubtful expression within them. "Stop lying..Butters. Everybody..hates me. I don't..I..don't know..why you *hic* bother sticking around me. I just..annoy the crap out of everyone." his sobbing had subdued a bit, but tears still came out of his eyes.

"Maybe you are annoying _sometimes_, but everyone is. And not everyone hates you, because I don't. You've been my friend for too long for me to hate you, Eric..I understand that behind the tough guy you try to play, you're an entirely different person. You're a person that just needs to know how special they are!" Butters said with a smile, before embracing Cartman in another hug.

Cartman reluctantly hugged him back. This was so fucking gay, like an episode of teletubbies or something..he chuckled a bit at the thought. Butters pulled back and grinned at him. "Feeling better now?"

"Yes, you fag.." Cartman hissed. He unwillingly flashed a meek smile.

"Well come on, then!" Butters said cheerily, grabbing Cartman's hand in attempt to pull him out of the bathroom. Cartman reluctantly allowed Butters to drag him back to the cafeteria. He wiped his eyes for the last time before being pulled through the swinging doors.

* * *

He felt a pit in his stomach as the loud music filled his ears. The DJ had stopped playing radio hits, and now was playing a favorite classic of his. Although he would never publicly admit to liking such song, even though he had been listening to it earlier on his i-pod. _Careless whisper._

George Michael's smooth voice echoed the room, as girls swooned over the song and danced with their dates. Butter's girlfriends approached him, and one of the girls whispered something in his ear while the others grinned, containing fits of laughter. Butters went wide eyed at first, then giggled along with them.

Cartman felt anger flash through him again. They were laughing at _him _again, weren't they? Before he could storm out of the room for the second time, Butters grabbed him. Before he knew it, he was being pushed onto the dance floor. Cartman protested, but they were trapped within a web of dancing couples. Butters casually took his hands and guided him into dance.

Cartman raised an eyebrow at this, and Butters leaned in to whisper in his ear. "It was a dare - they told me if I danced with you, Amanda would give you a second chance! So go along with it." Butters winked.

Cartman rolled his eyes, but didn't protest. If he were totally honest - even _Butters_ was prettier than that girl he danced with earlier. He had more of a chipper personality, too. And, well..his eyes and smile were somewhat enchanting. The way he grinned was adorable in it's own Buttery way.

...Wait, what?

Cartman gulped as they danced. He actually liked Butters. This couldn't be a worse time to suddenly discover that.

As they followed each others steps, Butters stared into his eyes and Cartman felt his heart speed. He never felt this way around Butters before, so why now? Was the cheesy George Michaels song that effective at turning him into mush? He was no better than the stupid girls. Perhaps it was the close proximity in such an intimate setting. Either way, he was nervous, and Butters could see it.

_"Relax!"_ Butters whispered, tightening the grip on his hands. "I'm not gonna give you cooties!" he giggled.

Cartman inhaled sharply, but before he could respond, he noticed Kenny watching. _Again_. Kenny was no longer dancing, he was now holding a drink and sitting on the side with some other guys and girls, who were chatting next to him. Some chick had her arm wrapped around Kenny's, and Kenny nodded to him across the room with a dickhead smile. He then saw Kenny grab his girl's cellphone and aim to take a picture. Cartman rolled his eyes and looked away. He didn't care, even if Kenny probably was going to post that stupid picture all over Facebook. All the teasing was getting old, and he wasn't going to care anymore. He was _tired_ of trying to be someone else. Just look at how happy Butters is by being himself! He looked back at Butters, and gave him a genuine smile.

Butters smiled back. "You're doing better! Hopefully, you won't trip when you dance with Amanda again." he said confidently, guiding them into a turn.

Cartman laughed nervously. "It was that bitch's shitty sense of rhythm that made me trip. You're a much better dancer."

Butters sheepishly grinned and looked down. Cartman felt his heart pound a little more, realizing that he had cherished that stupid grin all along. It just took seeing it up close to finally realize it. They continued to dance silently, ignoring the odd stares from other (entirely girl-boy) couples. And, of course, there was Butter's fangirls; who were not-so-secretly taking pictures of them while they danced. But the two shared a wordless moment that couldn't truly be disrupted by anyone else. It had turned into an unexpected bonding experience for them.

When the song ended, Cartman didn't feel embarrassed like he would have expected. He actually kinda enjoyed dancing, and didn't give a shit what other people thought of him dancing with Butters. They both enjoyed it, and that was all that mattered. As the next crappy song came on, he felt Butters pull away, but Cartman grabbed his hand again. His _prom lover_ glanced at him, confused.

"Another dance?" he asked with a hopeful tinge in his voice.

Butters nodded in glee and gently grabbed his hand again. This time, Cartman was the one to pull him into dance. As Butters wrapped his arms around his neck and gave him a peck on the cheek, Cartman could see Kenny and Stan watching them from the chairs on the side of the room. Stan looked surprised, unlike Kenny; he never caught on to these sort of things like Kenny did. But when they realized Cartman was looking their way, they both laughed and gave him a thumbs up.

And for the first time in a long while, Cartman didn't explode or lose his temper. He didn't stomp out of the cafeteria or even threaten to punch someone. He simply grinned and gave them a thumbs up back.


End file.
